Slavery

[Birthright-L]

My view of the Vos is that they may or may not have slavery - it is a matter
of semantics. Poor and opressed people have no rights in Vos society. If
they are called slaves, pons, serfs or whatever matters little. With a
ruling diety that is Chaotic Evil, legal codes are likely to mean a lot less
than the excercise of raw power.

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[Birthright-L]

I bow with respect before your humility.

/Carl


From: "Anthony Edwards" <anthony_c_edwards@HOTMAIL.COM>

> As I`ve often tried to get students to do, I seem to have failed myself.
> I`ll be more clear next time; though I did mention that the Scandinavian
> peoples later became much akin to the English/French they were so entwined
> with. The similarity is still there in the Rjurik/Anuirean theme as well;
> so a literal interpretation of what I stated was that the Rjurik should
have
> views on slavery just as the Anuireans do.
>
>
> Tony
>
>

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[fg]

This from the CotS book:
--------
Khinasi society:

From the beginning of history, the Basarji considered all people free and equal. No person should ever own another, tradition dictates, and no person is better than another by virtue of birth, gender, or class.
--------

I would think that this statement would preclude Khinasi from slavery.

[Green Knight]

Let`s all just start listing Canon quotes ;-)

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[Ariadne]

Originally posted by fg

This from the CotS book:
--------
Khinasi society:

From the beginning of history, the Basarji considered all people free and equal. No person should ever own another, tradition dictates, and no person is better than another by virtue of birth, gender, or class.
--------

I would think that this statement would preclude Khinasi from slavery.

Yes, this was what I pointed out some pages earlier. Nice to have someone of same oppinon...

[Trithemius]

Ariadne sez:
> Yes, this was what I pointed out some pages
> earlier. Nice to have someone of same oppinon...

Speaking for myelf, I like "canon material" that agrees with me. To my
mind the Khinasi draw upon too many disparate influences for there to be
a rule about slavery that applies to the -entire- culture. The opinions
of the embattled eastern coastal dictators, the genteel southern coastal
princes, and the fierce inland nomads are all going to differ IMO and
IMBR.

--
John Machin
(trithemius@paradise.net.nz)
-----------------------------------
"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna Sciendi.

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[kgauck]

I think much of the campaign descriptive material is all together to modern
in its tone. Egalitarian ideas are generally found in two kinds of
cultures, hunter-gatherers and industrialized societies. And that is aside
from the absurdity of a egaliratian notion juxtaposed with the fellow
carrying the blood of gods, a major bloodline, and several powers so
derived. In terms of mechanics and setting backround, it would seem that BR
is the aristocratic setting par excellance. Why so much of the setting
description is incompatable with that, is vexing.

Kenneth Gauck
kgauck@mchsi.com

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[Kalien]

Originally posted by kgauck
In terms of mechanics and setting backround, it would seem that BR is the aristocratic setting par excellance. Why so much of the setting description is incompatable with that, is vexing.

This disparity between what might be considered the core fundamentals of the setting and much of it's description also carries through to game play, moreso in PBeMs than table-top games, adding to a sense of disjunction. For example, I don't know how many times I have seen people argue for egalitarian voting systems to decide matters in PBeMs, insisting everyone's votes are of equal importance.

The fact that the offcial "canon" material of the boxed set blurs the lines of distinction between aristocratic governance and notions of divine right with those of modern post-industrial egalitarianism encourages similar patterns of thought and action on the part of players. We often end up with the curious result of contemporary social practises and belief systems superimposed upon a setting that is inherently contrary to such social practises and belief systems.

Often I have scratched my head in games and wondered just what another player was trying to do and why they were doing it - or even if they realised they were operating within the context of a medieval setting tailored to notions of divine right and not at the United Nations offices in New York. I suppose the more you actually know of history, the more over-sensitive to such divergences you might be though. ;)